SCGR Culture and Diversity Research Paper

Students were asked to research, analyze, and explain a controversial issue in today’s K-12 . Students were given 5 topics to choose from ranging from the rights of illegal immigrants to higher education to the inequality of resources between low SES schools in more affluent schools.
Steps: 1. reviewed the SCGR syllabus 2. Teacher-led interactive lessons on similar issues related to culture and diversity in education 3. Allowed students to select their own topic 4. Provided two in-class days for research 5. Each student presented their issue to the class in an engaging mini-lesson,included open-ended questions and led a group discussion in areas of the rubric they needed additional ideas in. 6. Ideas integrated into the final product.
Changes to the process: Based on areas that students struggled in in 2 other classes, I added Step 5 (mini-teach)
Results: Student averages in this class were higher than my 2 other courses in 3 of 5 areas of the rubric! 3 pts per area possible
average: 2.9, 2.9, 2.4, 2.4, 2.3 (rubric attached)

Comments

Rachel, Step 5 is the highest level of learning! The ability to teach the topic! And considering that you are teaching future teachers, this is authentic assessment at its finest! Great job using Action Research. Ro

This assignment assesses students' learning at several levels, including the creation of an original lesson. I especially liked adding the open-ended questions that allowed the class to help the presenter with "weaker" areas. I'm curious about students' feedback on the process - did they find certain parts of it harder to do than others?

This is what CATS is about! Try something out, learn from it, make adjustments, and then do it again with modifications. And then . . . SHARE your results. And I agree with Marianne - your steps 5 and 6 (I'm sure) accounted for a richer, deeper product your students submitted. And as Ro pointed out, this is Authentic Assessment, a hallmark of the Learning College.

Great assignment! Thanks for mentioning the library databases. If you'd like to meet with me so that we can go over some of the specific databases the library subscribes to that might be useful for this assignment, let me know.